You Fell From the Stars
by inkheart9459
Summary: Instead of Mon-El in the pod, Alex finds a baby with the crest of the House of Ze on it and knows instinctually that the baby is Astra's. She adopts the little girl, and when Astra crashes down in her own pod, alive, months later she co-parents her with Astra. That leads to a rather interesting life for the both of them...
1. Chapter 1

Hello there, so this monster sort of spawned from an anon showing up on tumblr and asking What if there was a baby in the pod, and then a bunch of subsequent anon prompts that led to the forming of this AU. It's mostly finished at 43 ficlets, which for this first posting have all been arranged in chronological order, if I add more onto this, obviously that'll go out the window, but for now at least it's all nicely put together. I'll start with the first prompt that brought about this whole world and go from there, I hope y'all enjoy. Oh and if anyone has another prompt hit me up at writebethany on tumblr and send it in.

* * *

The baby lands in the pod wearing the In-Ze crest. Of course Alex does genetic testing to back up their suspicions that it's Astra's child. Even before the genetic tests Alex sees the crest and is like "I'm taking her home." Kara, of course doesn't like that because it's her cousin after all, and finally she can actually raise one baby cousin after failing the other. But Alex argues with her. Kara is Supergirl, has a demanding job on top of that and lives in a loft. Alex has the medical knowledge and has actually handled a fair amount of kids from babysitting gigs and summer camp jobs. It only makes sense for her to take the baby. That doesn't mean that Kara can't totally live on her couch though and help out because this is a Kryptonian baby. On Earth. Superpowered shenanigans are bound to happen at some point and it's better that Kara is there to help out.

It's almost a year before Astra's own pod comes crashing down. Alex is there when they open the pod and she sobs when she sees Astra whole again. The sun had done its magic when Astra had cleared the earth's orbit. She just had to circle back around again to land once more and it had taken so long. Alex calls Kara who meets them at the DEO while they clear Astra to make sure she's really ok. They sort of avoid the topic of the baby for a long while because they don't know how in the world Astra had a kid and she literally just resurrected. There's a time and place for questions. But of course they have to tell her before Alex takes her home and so they do in a quiet backroom of the DEO. Astra tears up when they tell her, but the tears don't fall. She'd sent the little girl off in a pod not long after they landed on Earth. The sun had allowed her to have children, but Non…she feared what Non would do to the girl and so she programmed the pod to circle the Earth a few times before crashing down. Only something must have knocked it off course if she only landed just a few months before. Astra doesn't quite know what to do now that she actually has a chance to raise her little girl, but she stands and tells Alex to take her to her daughter anyway.

The co-parenting happens by small margins. First Astra sleeps on the couch, taking Kara's place. Kara's role truly falls back into that of a loving cousin now that Astra is there and she spoils the kid like mad. Astra and Alex fall into a routine. Astra spends most of the day at home, except when the DEO truly needs her, Alex works as normal. She comes home to her two favorite girls with a smile and a god awful amount of groceries most nights. Feeding two Kryptonians is an undertaking. She smiles and laughs with the baby and smiles up at Astra. Somewhere along the line Astra stops sleeping on the couch. They hardly even notice. It's just practical after all. Then bed sharing and child rearing turns to kisses on the cheek and hugs and that turns into just plain kisses which evolves into a full on relationship. It's comfortable, not easy, but comfortable because of just how slowly it evolved, how naturally. And before the baby even starts pre-school they're as family as family can be. The little girl grows up with two loving mothers, a cousin who sneaks her too much ice cream, a grandmother who knows how to make the best chocolate pecan pie in the galaxy, and plenty of honorary aunts and uncles who always have a smile at the ready just for her.


	2. Chapter 2

Prompt: How much time did Astra get to spend with newborn!Vega before jettisoning her off into space?

* * *

Astra doesn't realize she's pregnant for over three months. She goes so long before realizing half because she didn't really register most of the beginning symptoms and because she has absolute faith that she can't get pregnant. The High Council had made sure of that when she was little more than a girl. She still remembers the pain of that procedure and she knows it did not have to hurt. Krypton was too advanced not to have pain-blocking drugs. Even as young as she was, Astra got the message they were sending loud and clear. She was different and always would be and different on Krypton was to be cut off at the root. There is bitterness that still lingers deep down at the fact that Alura was treated as the golden child just because she was born first, but most days she can put it out of her mind. There are days, though, especially right after seeing Kara that she just wishes…

Kryptonian pregnancy is slightly different, a little longer, some different symptoms, and different physical changes. They had learned about what a Kryptonian pregnancy would be like when they were little, if only for their own edification. The Codex would take care of all of that, they were assured. But even assured as they were Astra remembers the signs and when she does realize she's pregnant, she can't believe she missed them.

At first, it was just a feeling of something being off. In the days before the Codex, their teacher had told them that women used to joke that it was Rao telling them something, but they weren't quite able to hear. That had been easy enough to ignore a bad feeling as a general was almost an everyday thing. Next, there was her missed period, but that had always been irregular considering the stress she was under as a soldier. Then there was the increased appetite, but on a planet where she had a huge appetite to begin with because of her super powers, what was a little more? Then there were the dreams, all with her taking care of children that would swell her heart to bursting, the body psychologically preparing the mind before the woman even knew, the teachers had said. Astra had just thought it was another knife her mind had twisted into her back, nothing new about that either. But the one thing that had caught her attention, the one thing that her elders had told her had alerted even the most oblivious women to the fact that they were pregnant, was the day she reached back to rub at the small of her back and she felt a grouping of bones pressed against her skin that had not been there before. They slowly shifted in the body to accommodate the growing baby. Astra had frozen and felt them again just to be sure and then she had excused herself from the planning meeting she had been in with a flimsy excuse, but she didn't care.

When she gets back to her room she panics for a long, long time. She cannot be pregnant. It isn't possible. She cannot bring a child into this world, this primitive and slowly dying world. She will not make a child witness what she had to growing up. And then she thinks of her husband and panics harder. Non is not someone who ever needs to be a father. He is ruthless and heartless now. He was not always, but that is the man he is now after Fort Rozz. He would only treat a child as the continuation of his ruling legacy, and that is no way for a child to grow up. She's not even sure that she should be trusted with a child after her stay in Fort Rozz. Astra looks at herself in the small mirror she has hanging in her tiny quarters and she sees the look of determination come onto her face. And then she starts to plan.

Astra assigns herself a delicate recon mission that only she can handle given her military assignment history. She had been an intelligence agent once upon a time, and that's the only reason her head council agrees easily to let her go without much fuss. She will keep in contact via video uplink every day and she will make sure that her power base is not shifted for her return, and she will return with a vengeance when this is all over.

She leaves Fort Rozz, accomplishes her mission to plot all important military and politcal strongholds of the humans in a few months, and then settles down to wait out the rest of her pregnancy, feeding those left at Fort Rozz the information she has slowly. She watches herself grow bigger and bigger in an apartment that is not her home and she worries. She will have to do this all alone, give birth to a baby on a foreign planet with no doctors to take care of the child while she lies exhausted on the bed. But she is a soldier and so she will manage. She still fears that something will go wrong, though, worrying until the wee hours of the night.

When her baby comes, Astra rides out the labor silently, listening to her body for cues on when she is supposed to push and hoping that she is managing to do one thing in her life right. The baby finally slips from her onto the bed and Astra uses what's left of her strength to pick the baby up and draw them into her arms. She looks down to see that her baby is a girl and she cries and cries. A little girl just like Kara. She cries more in relief as well as agony. Her little one cannot be brought back, but she has a daughter now, not a replacement or consolation, but something precious nonetheless. The little girl cries too and she has a good set of lungs on her, for which Astra is glad.

When she wakes the next morning, the sun pouring down on her and the baby, Astra feels that she is completely healed and she blesses the yellow sun for its powers. She hasn't been on this planet long, a year and a few months, but it has brought her much, including, she has no doubt, the baby in her arms. She cleans them both up and dresses the baby in an outfit that she had made in her spare time just waiting and waiting for her baby to be born, takes one look around her apartment, and then opens the window and flies off.

The pod she stole away months ago is waiting exactly where she left it when she lands in the woods miles and miles and miles from Fort Rozz. She places her little girl into it and kisses her gently. She programs the trajectory into the navigation system, to circle the earth a few times before landing somewhere even farther away from Fort Rozz than she is now and shuts the door.

"I hope you can forgive, darling one. But you must grow up elsewhere and I will keep fighting to make sure that there is a planet for you to grow up on."

The pod levitates as she finishes speaking and then it flies off, quick as a blink. Astra watches the place where it disappeared into the sky for a long, long time before she flies off herself, telling herself that it was all for the best, even if she doesn't quite believe it.


	3. Chapter 3

Prompt: How does Alex adjust to raising baby!Vega before Astra comes back? does baby!Vega have her crib in Alex's room for closer access, does Alex let the baby sleep with her? Does Alex have one of those little baby slings to carry Vega around?

* * *

Vega is a few days old at most when she comes out of the pod. Alex has babysat before, of course, but never for a baby this young. To say those first few days were rough would have been an understatement. Kara is a godsend considering she needs a lot less sleep than Alex herself does. Kara takes the shift from eleven to six while Alex sleeps, at which point Alex gets up and lets Kara catch a couple hours before she has to speed through her routine to get her to CatCo on time.

In the tired and stressed haze it takes a while for Alex to really digest the information that for all intents and purposes she just adopted a baby. Legally that's what the papers will say in a few weeks time when the DEOs semi-legal documents come through for the baby. Kara still has to give the baby a name for that to happen. And Alex has to decide if she puts Astra down as dead on the forms or leave her as a parent as well. She saw Astra die, felt the moment where it had been certain, but something just won't let her call it just yet. And while she may know how to take care of a baby for short periods of time and have the medical knowledge to back it up, that's so much different than being a full time guardian to a baby. And suddenly she's terrified. Because she's a fucking mess how is she going to raise a child?

But then Kara is by her side, babbling at the baby in Kryptonese and she takes a breath. She will be able to do this because she has the support of her sister and the support of her friends and Hank. And with help anything is possible. She can do this. Whatever feeling that drew her to this baby was not wrong. She will raise this little girl as best as she knows how.

And the best she knows how starts with a literal metric ton of research into everything that a baby needs for development and various furniture required. The first few days they got by with a loaned crib from one of the staff of the DEO, but if this is going to be the baby's home there has to be more than that. Alex gets everything and maybe the kitchen sink too. She's the equivalent to a first-time mother even if she doesn't feel it yet, and they always seem to be way over prepared. Kara doesn't help with the sheer amount of stuff bought because she keeps adding cute things to the cart and darting away before Alex can say to put them back. She'll never tell Kara that she loves the little hooded towels with monkeys on them.

One of the purchases is a rollable bassinet. Alex rolls it around so the baby always has a place to sleep but she can still see the baby. On nights where Kara is needed for super duty she keeps it right next to her bed and listens for the slightest fuss from the baby. She would sleep with the girl in her bed, but she's read enough to know that co-sleeping is far too dangerous to even think about it as more than a passing thought. Sometimes instead of trying to sleep she just stares at the tiny face and wonders if she's doing the right thing. She really hopes she is.

Alex doesn't really settle into everything until about two months in. Kara finally gave the baby a name a week in and that made it a bit more normal, but it's only the day in and day out that reality that really grounds Alex. She starts to relish coming back from missions having Vega and her ever-rotating assigned DEO babysitter greet her at the door. She misses the baby softness and smell when Vega isn't in her arms. Alex even starts to not hate the ridiculous little baby carrier that Kara got her almost as a joke because hey, at least her hands were free. And having Vega giggling at her funny faces while she walked around didn't hurt either. But that's another thing that Kara isn't ever going to find out either.

All in all by the end of the second month into the beginning of the third she feels like…not a parent per se, not yet, but something like it. The chaos of working and raising a child wears on her as it does all new mothers, especially since she didn't exactly get maternity leave to deal with the first few weeks, but then again, some mothers don't either and Alex can deal. She can provide for the baby and take care of her and love her. Vega is hers. That much she cannot vacillate on even if she is unsure of exactly their relationship as of yet, and she is more than ok with that because Vega is the most beautiful little girl with the happiest toothless smile there is and she is immensely glad that she insisted that she take care of Vega that day when the pod landed and she wouldn't change a thing.


	4. Chapter 4

Prompt: How long does it take for Alex to feel like little Vega's mom?

* * *

It takes almost eight months for Alex to really and truly feel like Vega's mom. Vega starts babbling earlier than most babies, but between the Kryptonese and English mixture that's fed to Vega, it's a little harder to tell what her first real word is really. Kara swears Vega's first word came right before Vega was seven months old and that the word was salite, which is the closest Kryptonian really gets to the word cousin, but Alex is a little dubious about that. She hasn't heard the characteristic tones of Kryptonese come out of Vega's mouth yet, though that doesn't mean she hasn't heard the baby trying. She doesn't ever disillusion Kara to what she wants her to believe. Vega's first word in English will be just as special as her her first in Kryptonese because she's of both worlds equally so there's no need to have a contest about which language was first. She does not need to take one more thing away from Kara with doubt.

Alex is damn sure what Vega's first word is in English, though. She's sitting at the dinner table, finishing up feeding Vega her last serving of pureed peaches for the day. After she wipes Vega's face of the last of the goo and goes to clean up everything Vega starts to babble again.

"Yeah, baby girl, that all sounds very interesting. I know, peaches are totally the best food in the galaxy, just don't tell Kara because she's convinced that title goes to chocolate pecan pie." Alex smiles up at Vega and Vega smiles back, giggling.

"Mama!" Vega reaches towards Alex and giggles again. And then of course she very clearly says "Salite!" with just as much joy and Alex wants to eat her DEO polo she's so fucking not fucking once has she called herself Mom or anything like it to Vega's face, but she had to have picked it up somewhere, some educational TV show that they entertain her with at the DEO while she's out on missions or something and then she put the pieces together in her little brilliant baby brain just to drop that little bomb on Alex right when she wasn't suspecting.

"Mama?" Alex asks.

Vega reaches for her again. "Mama!"

Alex blinks and blinks and blinks again. Mama. Vega thinks of her as her mother. She doesn't know any better, not really, but…she was the one who put the pieces together. That has to mean something. Her opinion is not weightless just because she is a small child. Vega is Kryptonian and probably smarter than Alex understands even now. And if she has chosen to call Alex mama, then maybe she should pay attention. Because she's been dancing around the feeling for a while. She feels as if she shouldn't feel like a mother and should in equal measure because she's a damn train wreck emotionally about eighty percent of the time. But.

She just stares at Vega as the pieces start to click inside her. Vega is her daughter. Her daughter. There is no other word for it. That is what she is. Alex can't run from that anymore. And she is Vega's mother. There's no running from that either because she knows she would rather die before running from this child in front of her.

"Yeah, Vega baby, Mama." She stands to kiss Vega on the head gently. "Mama loves you. I always will."


	5. Chapter 5

Prompt: How would baby Vega react to Astra at first? Would it be like she already recognized her, or another stranger in her life and she wants Alex?

* * *

Vega is ten, almost eleven months old when Astra lands. Astra, at first is hesitant to hold her. She's afraid it's a dream, that she's still in the pod, or worse that she's still trapped in the Phantom Zone and all this has been a dream that will shatter the moment she has Vega in her arms. But Alex encourages her gently and Kara is practically hopping up and down waiting for mother and daughter to reunite, it's the Disney-like ending that Kara almost craves after all. When Astra takes Vega from Alex she sighs heavily, world-weary with just that note of happiness mixed in that says it was all worth it for this.

Vega looks up at Astra and smiles. She's always been a happy baby, a little prone to dramatics, and sometimes so quiet Alex wonders why, but when she looks down Vega always is happy. She coos at Astra now and reaches up to grab onto the silver streak in her hair and tugs. Astra just laughs with tears in her eyes as her breath catches in her throat. This is her child. Her child. In her wildest dreams she could have never imagined that this would happen and yet there is living breathing proof in her arms and she feels shattered but so, so alive.

"What is her name?" Astra asks.

"Vega Astra-Ze Danvers," Alex says quietly.

Kara had picked out the name. Alex had insisted that her name be something Kryptonian despite the fact that a great deal of Kryptonian names sounded almost like gibberish to English speakers. Being Kryptonian was part of the little one's heritage and her name should reflect that. Kara had thought on it for a long while, there were a few days where Vega was just called the baby or little girl while she thought. When she had come back to Alex holding Vega and had placed the girl in Alex's arms, Kryptonese glyphs glowing softly on chubby arms, Alex had dusted off her reading skills and translated slowly. Vega. Kara smiled sadly and told Alex of an old Kryptonian goddess, that of wisdom and strength named Astra. The gods of the old pantheon hadn't liked her much because she had a way of going against them, all for good reason of cours, they were being foolish,, but in a great many of the stories she was painted as a villain. That did not stop her from having a daughter though, one she loved beyond all measure, who she named Vega. Vega later became the goddess of the arts and charm and had a way of smoothing the arguments between her mother and the other gods. So much so that in those stories where Astra was the villain, Vega was her redemption. Kara had said it was an old myth, that not many knew it, but that her mother had told her of it as a bedtime story many times.

Alex looks at Astra as she absorbs the name, and knows that Astra knew the myth too and knew the implications. There is a look deep in her eyes that says "yes, she is my redemption, but not only her." Alex just smiles a wisp of a smile and says, "Kara picked it out."

"Of course she did." Astra looks at Kara with more love in the world than Alex has ever seen before looking back at Vega. She starts to coo in Krpytonese and Alex melts a bit.

But eventually Vega starts to wiggle about after a long while. It's not a storybook and to Vega right at this instance, Astra is not her mother. Astra tries to soothe her when she starts to fret, but she doesn't calm. After a few moments a bit of the light goes out of Astra's face as she holds Vega up to Alex, knowing that this particular battle isn't worth fighting. Keeping Vega happy is what is important. And besides all will come in good time, as with many things.

Alex takes Vega and looks down at her face, smiling again, eyes drooping tiredly. "That's your _Ieiu_ right there, baby girl. She's traveled a long way to meet you." Her pronunciation is a bit off, but she hasn't practiced in a long while with Kara, but the fact that Astra is Vega's mother just as much as she is remains the same no matter how bad she botched the Kryptonian.

"I never thought I'd hear that word directed at me," Astra says quietly.

"Well, you're going to hear it a lot. She'll start talking soon enough."

Astra looks up at the ceiling of Alex's apartment, out and through the plaster and wood into the sky beyond that's turning towards night as they sit together, and she nods for a few long seconds, taking it all in once more. "Yes. I suppose she will."


	6. Chapter 6

Prompt: What was Astra's routine with baby Vega when she was mostly staying at home with her?

* * *

It takes Astra a month or two to really get into the groove of taking care of Vega full time. She had underestimated just how much work being a full-time parent could be, really, and she had to come up with almost a military tactical approach to getting everything done that needed done in a day. Or perhaps more like getting everything she wanted to get done in a day. She always has been quite the over achiever.

When she does settle into a routine, it looks something like this, give or take an activity or two depending on the day or if she's desperately needed by the DEO for some alien mission.

Astra wakes up at five am every morning, not because she sets an alarm, but because after all the years in the military, she's incapable of sleeping past seven am even at her most tired. Five am is around usual otherwise. She doesn't mind so much because it's quiet out in the world, or as quiet as National City ever is. Alex isn't up yet and baby Vega is still fast asleep dreaming of whatever it is infants do. Astra looks in on her every morning before she goes out to the living room and goes about her morning exercise routine. It's not that she needs it on this planet, but the routine helps her.

By the time she's done she starts the coffee and fifteen minutes or so later, Alex stumbles in from her bedroom, bleary-eyed and grumpy until she sits down with a cup of coffee and drinks about half of it, and then she's an actual human being again. By that time Astra slides a plate of food in front of Alex and sits down with her own huge portion. Usually it's some derivative of eggs and bacon, but sometimes, if she finds the right things, things that are almost the same as on Krypton, but not, she makes imitations of the dishes from her home. They almost taste the same, but the almost sometimes leaves her more homesick than before. Alex, she knows, of course, and on those mornings she compliments Astra's cooking quietly before offering a comforting squeeze on her shoulder and cleaning up the dishes.

After Astra feeds the both of them she gets Vega up at six forty-five. Vega is much like her second mother in that she doesn't like mornings until after she's up and around for a little while. Astra just carries her around for a half an hour or so while she does some of the lighter chores so Vega can get used to the waking world. Once Vega starts playing with her hair instead of lounging lazily against her shoulder, Astra knows she's up for the day and goes to fix breakfast.

When she comes Vega is already starting on soft solids. She mashes bananas and other fruits into paste and feeds it to her daughter spoonful by spoonful. Sometimes half of it gets in her hair or on Vega herself. It's why she doesn't shower after her workout, but when Vega's down for her morning nap. She learned very quickly to adjust her schedule to such things so now she just shakes her head at Vega's antics.

"The food is supposed to go in you, _Inah_ , not on me."

Vega just smiles at her and claps her hands.

Astra shakes her head and wipes them both off before cleaning up the kitchen once more and setting Vega up in the living room with her favorite toys. Most mornings she plays with the little girl for an hour or two, making up for lost time. She speaks all in Kryptonese and Vega seems to be picking it up fairly quickly. She calls Astra _Ieiu_ more often than not now and she's picked up other basic words as well. It makes Astra wish that she had been there for her first word, but this is enough.

When Vega starts to seem sleepy, Astra gives her the first bottle of the day and burps her before putting her down for her morning nap. Then and only then does she shower. She'll stay clean until past lunch if she's lucky. She'd heard the phrase being a mother is dirty work, but she never realized how literal it was.

After the shower she goes about more chores. There's always so much laundry and she always finds herself in the basement of their apartment building with a god awful amount of the human currency called quarters, putting in load after load. If Vega stirs while she's away she's up the stairs to get her child in a flash before returning. Vega seems to like the laundry room, though Astra can't imagine why. She'll sit happily on top of the washer by Astra and look around as if everything is brand new. Astra watches her sometimes and smiles softly. Her daughter.

In-between laundry loads she goes up and picks up toys and cleans another room, she has a rotating schedule for things. Bathrooms on Mondays, change the sheets on Tuesdays, and the like. Then it's onto lunch, mashed veggies for Vega, peas are her favorite, and at least four sandwiches for Astra herself. Mashed peas, consequently also happen to be the most difficult vegetable to scrub out of her hair. She wonders sometimes if Vega knows that and just likes them so she can giggle more at Astra. Her daughter is rather smart after all for a tiny one her age.

After lunch Astra settles Vega in front of the TV for an hour or two of educational programs while she herself logs onto the internet and scrolls around, taking in as much information as she can. There's politics and history and Earth ecology and human biology, and their laughable chemistry and physics, though sometimes there are glimmers of things that Krypton hadn't yet figured out, but those are few and far between. It's important to her that she never stops learning and so she reads all that she can. Alex's association with a local university that she consults with gives her access to all the peer-reviewed journals and she reads those, she reads classic literature that has been scanned online, she reads everything, truly, with little discretion all while Vega happily laughs along to the show that Astra chose because it will teach her Spanish.

By the time Vega's afternoon nap rolls around it's time to start working on dinner. Astra may take Vega with her to go shopping. She sleeps in her car seat easily and does not stir, even in the loudest of environments, but on days where she doesn't need to shop, she quietly gets everything ready. With all the time that she has, it's usually something fairly complicated. Learning new Earth dishes amuses her and keeps her mind occupied. Sometimes, though, Earth tastes mystify her. Why is there so much butter in southern cooking? She doesn't understand.

Vega wakes up around the time that Alex usually gets home. Alex waves hi to Astra, giving a quick word or two about how her day went, before going back and scooping up an already awake Vega and carrying her back out to the kitchen before she talks more. Alex definitely misses their daughter while she is away. Astra can see it in the way she cuddles Vega close. It makes Astra smile and her insides warm up. Of all the people on this planet, she is glad that Vega was taken in by Alex. There is no better person.

They all eat dinner together and this time it's Alex who gets mashed food in various places and Astra just laughs while Alex pouts. After dinner it's a bath for Vega, though mostly it's just Vega sitting in a tub full of water with a myriad of toys playing while Astra and Alex look on fondly. After she's dried off, Alex plays with her for a little while and when she starts to nod off, she takes her back to her room and reads to her, easy picture books most of the time, but sometimes Alex pulls out other things like Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia because honestly, you can only read so many picture books.

When Vega is asleep, Alex walks back out and joins Astra on the couch for another couple hours. Sometimes they watch TV, Astra does need to catch up on her pop culture after all, sometimes they sit together, each on their own computer, sometimes they read, and Astra's most treasured nights of all are when they talk about everything that crosses their mind. She learns a great deal about the other woman, about Kara growing up, about human life, about Vega's first months, about so many important things. She tells Alex things too, what it was like on Krypton as an adult, her time in the military, all the things that came before her life was thrown into chaos because those other things are for the dark of the night, not the tranquil evening.

But even that comes to an end eventually as Alex slips off to shower and get ready for bed. Astra turns the couch into her own bed and settles down. She grabs one of the paperbacks that Alex has, and reads some more until her eyes grow heavy and she too falls asleep to start everything again in the morning.


End file.
